"I see....BLUE SKIES! ...."

Microsoft launches Vista worldwide

"After five years of marketing blitz, the largest software maker unveiled the new computer operating system Tuesday at 12:00AM EST."

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In a related (and made up) story, Microsoft Corporation announced the first security breach of it's Vista operating system at 12:02 AM Tuesday. Experts indicated surprise that hackers took an estimated 50% longer than predicted to compromise Vista's impenetrable firewalls - and declared the release a complete success.

Initiating a public relations war that rivals the intensity and venomous vitriol of the Trump~O'Donnell brouhaha, Microsoft chairman Bill Gates blamed U2 frontman Bono for the leak, suggesting he now be called "Scooter" instead of his long-held stage name.

Bono responded by referring to Mr. Gates as a "philanthropic pinhead."

Developing....

Bring it ON !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

And we are off to New York City to make it big, strike it rich, find our fame and fortune, and generally wreak havoc on the entertainment world!

Sassette, her cousin~ aka "SNAP" ~ and Xen have an audition to hopefully appear on VH1's World Series of Pop Culture.

GO US !!

And even if we don't make it, there is all of New York to bend to our will ...
To resist is futile....

Hugh Is The Man...

Congratulations to Hugh Laurie, winner of the Golden Globe for Best Performance By An Actor In a Television Series – Drama.

Mr. Laurie should be a requirement for all future awards shows as evidenced by his delivery of the wittiest speech of the evening. Instead of whipping out a *yawn* laundry list of lawyers and agents, Hugh chose to recognize the crew of his hit program "House M.D.," which according to him are not "drunks and theives" and "smell of newly mown grass."

Yay Hugh!

And ..... Xen's Terrible Work Day

As a gesture of solidarity with Sassette, I feel compelled to ALSO show artistic representation of MY horrific work day today.

Sassette's Terrible Work Day

Sassette's description of her work day:



Based on that doleful but artistic depiction, Xen presents unto her this Haiku:

Lost in the work flow.
Buried beyond belief now
Hopelessly drowning.

with a look ahead...

Finally over.
Tomorrow begins anew
Rejuvenation.

The Arrogant Shall Inherit My Wrath...

Irritation of the afternoon:

A co-worker comes in and asks if I will type a letter up for him. I say yes. He hands me a letter that is for the governor, expressing his desire to serve a second term in an appointed post.

Fine.

I see that the letter is formatted as though written by a grade-schooler. The governor is not properly addressed, nor is his proper, full name used. So, I format the letter in keeping with all of the rules of business correspondence and etiquette. I hand it to him and he proceeds to gleefully point out my "mistakes" - only reading as far as one "mistake" before making me "correct" it, print a new copy and then continue. He was arrogant and completely irritating. I was tempted to explain that I was trying to save him the embarrassment of appearing a total ignoramus to the governor that he was asking to appoint him, but suspected that he would not have taken it well (he was much older than I). Instead I bit my tongue and have been fuming all afternoon...

"Computers in the future may weigh no more than 1.5 tons."

Just got back from a demonstration here at work. One for a new, improved, 'this will wash your car, satisfy your wife and babysit the kids" software package.
Everybody has the TOTAL answer to corporate systems integration with THEIR product. It's THE BEST!!!

Then someone always asks "How many companies has this been fully and successfully implemented in?"
And it's like watching that first spark hit the Hindenburg....

Xen's Picture of the Week

This week's picture comes from the "between a rock and a hard place" category.
It's a photo taken of a single flower growing out of a sheer rock wall overlooking Moxie Falls in Maine. Xen took this shot in "mid-plummet" during his final attempt at winning the Kennebec River Belly Flop Competition. The EMT's thought it was a very nice shot....

TV or Not TV

So I went to the TV Guide Listings ...
Almost all shows on the air tonight are repeats ... Oh, well.

What I found interesting was this ....
They list "NEW" in red next to every new episode that's on.
They also list everything up to date, unlike the Projo or Cox.
This means they had the President's speech on Iraq listed there....
Only there was no "NEW" indication in red next to it ....

Is that a political statement about what he's going to say?
One can only wonder ... LOL

"The Profiler"

From today's Projo blog:

ACLU sues state police for alleged racial profiling
PROVIDENCE --
The American Civil Liberties Union filed a lawsuit in U.S. District Court today challenging what it calls the illegal detention of a van of Guatemalans on Interstate 95 in July.
The lawsuit, filed on behalf of 11 of the 14 immigrants, argues that "the actions by the state police violated the state's Racial Profiling Prevention Act, as well as the driver and passengers' constitutional rights to be free from discrimination and from unreasonable searches and seizures," according to an announcement released this morning by the ACLU.
The suit seeks a declaratory judgment that the defendants violated the constitutional rights of the driver and passengers, and an award of unspecified damages and attorneys' fees.
Today's lawsuit stems from a July 11 traffic stop on Route 95 southbound in Richmond. State trooper Thomas Chabot said he stopped the van, because the driver failed to signal a lane change. When the driver and 13 occupants could not produce immigration documents, Chabot called federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement authorities.
The 14, who now face deportation, allege that Chabot threatened to shoot or kill them if they tried to escape the van on its way to ICE headquarters in Providence.
Chabot was cleared of wrongdoing in September after an internal state police investigation, which found that the trooper "acted professionally and appropriately in this traffic stop," including his seeking involvement by federal Immigrations and Customs Enforcement agents.
The head of Rhode Island's ACLU said there's no doubt that the incident was a result of racial profiling. “Since the license and registration papers of the van’s driver were valid and there was never any suggestion of criminal activity, the questioning and detention of the passengers was clearly based on one element: their ethnic appearance," ACLU executive director Steven Brown said. "This is the essence of racial profiling."


Sassette:
But they were here illegally, right? Are people who are not in this country legally really afforded the same protections under the law as those who are? What is irksome about this article is that the short version that is on the "breaking news" section of projo does not mention that the people are now facing deportation - you have to click the link to continue the article in another window to find that out. Also, if all 14 are facing deportation, that must mean that the license and registration paperwork that were "in order" must have been fakes, right? If the driver and the 13 passengers could not produce immigration documents, then the driver must have actually been in possession of fake license and registration paperwork.
So, what is the deal? What did the police do wrong?

Xen:
This is a ludicrous lawsuit as far as I can tell.
How is it racial profiling?

Was there a traffic violation?
How can an illegal immigrant have a valid license? Is an out-of-the-US license valid here? If not, then you are right - it must have been a fake.
If I am in the country illegally, it doesn't matter WHAT I am detained for initially - I am here illegally.
If a bank robber is stopped for speeding and he's got that big canvass bag next to him with the "$" on it and a black robbers mask across his eyes, is it profiling? Bull.

The ACLU is all over this police profiling thing and it's out of control as far as I can see.

Sassette:
The worst part is that no one in the article is disputing, apparently, that the traffic offense occurred. I am very interested to see if the law in RI allows the use of traffic violations as a pretext for police to stop a vehicle. I believe they do, and if so it doesn't matter - the stop was legal. In theory you could offer up the argument that any member of a minority is always profiled any time they are stopped. It is ludicrous.

I honestly am curious if people who have entered this country illegally are entitled to the same protections as legal citizens. Do you know?

This whole thing seems to be half *ssed reported. No mention has been made as to why they are in RI; are they living in the state, or perhaps in CT? Do they have relatives also here illegally?